Graphic Design

Mrs. Foster
Wassily Kandinsky was born on December 16, 1866, in Moscow, Russia. His father was a tea merchant and his mother was a homemaker.
At an early age, Wassily exhibited a very special gift called synaesthesia cognate. This gift gave him the ability to hear colors and see sounds. This
special gift was encouraged by his father who enrolled him in private drawing lessons as well as lessons in piano and cello.
Between 1886 and 1892 Kandinsky studied law and economics at the University of Moscow. In 1889 he and a team studied the life of the people in
the Vologda district in northwestern Russia. He was impressed by their folk art and the interior decorations of the village h ouses. Their art
influenced his early style.
In 1893 he accepted a law faculty position at the University of Moscow. Three years later, when Kandinsky was thirty years ol d, he decided to
become an artist. He left his promising career in law to attend art school in Munich, Germany.
His art was greatly influenced by an exhibition of French impressionist artists. The Impressionists used color and light to s how their subjects rather
than painting in fine detail. The works of Claude Monet interested Kandinsky very much. Subject matter played a secondary rol e to color in his
paintings, and reality and fairy tale seemed to blend together. This approach would influence Kandinsky's work for the rest o f his life.
In 1901 Kandinsky founded the "Falanga" artistic movement and school where he shared his ideas about art. His paintings from that period, like The
Blue Rider (1903), show his use of color to express an emotional experience rather than reflect nature.
By 1913 Kandinsky was producing the some of the first completely abstract (non-representational) compositions in the history of art. They made no
reference to the natural world and were inspired by pieces of music such as Composition VII (1913).
In 1914 Kandinsky returned to Russia. Two years later he married Nina Andreevskaia, the daughter of a Czarist colonel. From 1918 to 1921, he
devoted much of his time to painting and teaching color analysis.
Between 1922 and 1933, geometrical elements became increasingly important to Kandinsky - particularly circles, half-circles, the angle, straight
lines and curves. One of his first works to include these geometric shapes was On White II (1923).
When Nazis closed the Bauhaus school in 1933, Kandinsky moved to France. He remained there for the rest of his life.
Wassily Kandinsky died on December 13, 1944, in his studio in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He is recognized today as the pioneer of abstract art. His
non-representational paintings paved the way for the development of the Abstract Expressionist movement that dominated American painting
after World War II.
*http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-art-library/wassily-kandinski-biography.htm

Artist Profile: Kandinksky
Concentric Circles
Circles can create texture
Overlapping Circles
Crop circles create interesting design.
Adjacent Circles
Analagous colors create a sense of
unity. Are these colors warm or cool?
Adjacent & Concentric Circles
Circles can be organic, or free-flowing.
Contrast, Space, and Shape can be
emphasized using circles!
Overlapping Circles
Concentric & Adjacent Circles
Pattern & Texture Circles
Optical illusions can also be created
with circles.
When creating art, the composition is
up to you!
Challenge: Create an art piece of INTEREST that uses
only circles. Your circles can be varying shapes, sizes,
fill colors, & outline colors.
Circles Project
5
th
Period - Due Thursday 9/25
6
th
Period - Due Friday 9/26
Elements of Art:
Shape
Color
Value
Texture
Space

Principles of Design:
Contrast
Repetition
Alignment


Use of Color:
PRIMARY COLORS
Yellow, Blue, Red
SECONDARY
Green, Violet, Orange
COMPLEMENTARY
Colors on opposite sides of the
color wheel
Ex: Red & Green, Blue & Orange,
Violet & Yellow, etc. You can also do
complementary Tertiary colors.
ANALAGOUS
Colors that are next to each other
on the color wheel
Ex: Blue & Green, Red & Orange, etc.


You must use at least ONE Element, at least ONE Principle, &
choose ONE use of color. See next slides.
Your design can have overlapping circles, adjacent circles, and/or concentric circles.



Your design should be thoughtfully planned and executed. There should be a sense
of uniformity and balance.
REFELCTION: Answer these questions in the blank canvas area of your
document. Points will count towards the use of complete sentences, proper
grammar, and correct spelling.

1. I used ____(Element used)____, an Element(s) of Art, by ________(how did you use
it?)_____________.
2. I used ___(Principle used)____, a Principle of Design, by _____(how did you use
it?)_____________.
3. In my artwork, I showed use of color by choosing to work with the following colors_____(list
colors)_____________. These are ___(types of colors)________ colors.
4. This artwork was inspired by_______________________________________. (Write about your
planning process. What made you place your circles in a certain way? Why did you use the
colors represented? How thoughtful were you while doing this piece? Did you like working with
circles? Why or why not? This is where you can explain your work in-depth.